Users can create their own Coindirect account by signing up with their email address and can then create a password – traders looking to transact in amounts in excess of R15,000 ZAR will need to unlock a trading limit, wherein users will need to fill in their personal details and can verify themselves by uploading a copy of their ID or Passport, a selfie holding both items, or a Proof of Address.

Users can then make use of secure instant EFT to purchase their coins – within a 90-minute payment window, users can dictate how much Bitcoin in BTC or Rand value they wish to purchase, and can EFT the required funds directly to a trusted seller on Coindirect. Until the EFT is authenticated, the coins will be held in escrow.

Coindirect provides customers with both easy access to both an online Bitcoin and Ethereum wallet, and offers two-factor authentication to secure one’s account. Users interested in selling their Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies can further setup payments to reflect directly into their banking account of choice once a trade is completed.

2) How to buy Bitcoin in South Africa through Luno:

To buy Bitcoin in South Africa, users can make use of a Luno account to issue a purchase order. By signing up to Luno, users will be able to create an account and then fund their account with their local currency of preference.

To register on Luno, South Africans will need to verify their mobile number, and enter their personal information including their first, middle, and last names as well as their South African ID number.

South Africans banking with ABSA, Capitec, FNB, Nedbank, and Standard Bank will then have to deposit funds into their account by way of transferring cash with a deposit reference.

Once that’s taken care of, the next step is to purchase Bitcoin on the Luno exchange. Luno offers a direct and easy Instant Sell/Buy function that enables its users to simply denote the amount of Rand which they are willing to spend and exchange it for the market value of Bitcoin.

Alternatively, users can place a purchase order through Luno’s own exchange should they wish to have more oversight of the process. CoinMarketCap offers an extensive list of other exchanges, and at the time of writing Poloniex, Bittrex, and Bitfinex remain the top three contenders when ranked by 24-hour volume.

What is Bitcoin Cash, and can I buy it in South Africa?

Given that cryptocurrencies are software-based, developers from time to time find disagreement in the direction such technologies are heading. When this happens and there is a sizeable split in the community, cryptocurrencies can undergo what is called a ‘hard fork’.

Bitcoin Cash is a hard fork of Ethereum. Bitcoin Cash was created when the Bitcoin development community expressed differing views on how Bitcoin should scale over time.

Proponents of Bitcoin Cash argue that Bitcoin’s basic block size needed to increase to facilitate faster and cheaper transactions, while Bitcoin’s ‘Core’ community argued that the Bitcoin blockchain should remain unaltered.

Interested investors can still now buy Bitcoin Cash coins, which are available on Coindirect.

Storing Bitcoin

While purchasing Bitcoin is an important first step in getting involved with investing in cryptocurrencies as a whole, a second – and possibly far more significant – dimension is securing one’s wealth.

A popular option amongst investors is to transfer their purchased cryptocurrency to an online wallet for safe-keeping; while this can be affordable, some online wallets require users to share intimate account details which can leave investors open to scams.

Some surety in this process can be gained by never sharing the private key to one’s cryptocurrency, and by using two-factor authentification (such as through Google Authentification) to better secure one’s account.

Ledger Wallet’s Ledger Nano 5 is one such hardware wallet.

A more secure method – although, naturally more expensive – is to purchase a hardware wallet to store one’s cryptocurrency. These typically take the form of a USB node that appears somewhat familiar next to a USB flash storage drive.

Have your say!

What are your thoughts? What method have you used to purchase Bitcoin? Have you purchased any other cryptocurrency in South Africa, such as Ethereum? Be sure to let us know your opinion in the comments below!